1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to exercising devices and, more specifically, to a hand exerciser worn directly on a hand or over a glove of a user providing resistance while allowing the user to flex either the entire hand or any individual digit in a natural movement through a full range of motion thereby exercising the hand and digits in a safe, highly effective manner and providing faster results than products without a fill range of motion. The hand exerciser increases the strength, coordination and gripping ability of the hand and digits of a user as well as providing physical therapy for treating conditions such as arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, weak muscles and joints and post surgical weakness.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous exercising devices have been provided in the prior art. Known hand flexion and extension exercise devices satisfy only a limited number of the desired criteria for fully exercising the hand and digits of a user. The most common deficiency of known devices is in the ability to exercise the full range of motion for each joint. These devices do not provide for the separate exercise of the major joint classifications but use one simple motion for exercising the entire hand and digits. Furthermore, most of these devices provide an inappropriate distribution of resistance to the various joints, e.g. the functional capabilities of the metacarpophalangeal joints greatly exceeds that of the distal interphalangeal joints and therefore resistance should be applied to these joints based upon their functional capabilities and not evenly. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,488 to Villepigue is illustrative of such prior art. While this unit may be suitable for the particular purpose to which it addresses, it would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.